Wilde said indignantly, "It's an entirely different matter. _Hell_ is now a scholarly word, and quite acceptable. Of course, in ancient times it wasn't and when a cultivated person wished to use a strong expletive he said _Hades_, which was still a more ancient word meaning the same thing. Using the scholarly expression made it all right." "I give up," I said and turned to Suzi. "Let's get out of here. I want to talk to you." She said demurely, "Yes, dear." I grunted a goodbye to Wilde and arose. There was applause again and the autorch started blaring _The Solar System Forever_ as we left. "You could get awfully tired of music like that," I said. Suzi said, "Not me, Jak." The usually crowded street outside the I.V.S. Building was curiously empty, but I didn't pay much attention. I was trying to figure out some way of talking Suzi into marrying me before the fight, so it was several minutes before I noticed what was out of whack. A hundred yards before us, a hundred yards behind us, and across the street, were several scores of white uniformed officers, Solar League police, clearing the pedestrians, and even vehicular traffic from our way. I started to say, "What goes on here any--" But Suzi looked at me soulfully and said, "Your guard of honor, Jak. There's been some talk that the Centaurians might try to get at you before the meet." To quote one of Suzi's favorite primitive exclamations, _Oh, Brother_. "Look," I said. "I can't talk to you in front of all this. I feel like a parade. Let's go into a theatre, take a box and have this out." Suzi wasn't disagreeing with anything today. * * * * * We entered the theatre and made our way as quietly as possible toward a sound-proof box where we could be alone. Suddenly, the three dimensional figures on the stage faded, the lights went on and the autorch started blaring that confounded tune again. Everyone in the theatre turned, spotted us and arose and began whistling and clapping. I winced, but Suzi seemed to be in her glory. I hurried her along and we entered the enclosed box where at least we couldn't hear them after I'd turned off the sound device. Finally, the lights went out again. Instead of resuming the play, however, we had a flash of the face of the President of Terra. He spoke very seriously, very earnestly--and I had to sit through it after Suzi had switched on the sound again. He pointed out at some length that we all must maintain faith and calm and hold in our hearts the image of the champion of the Solar System, our own Terran Gladiator, Jak Dempsi. The President's face faded and was replaced with a still of mine. The audience rose to a man, faced our box and applauded like crazy. I had a sneaking suspicion that the show wasn't going to go on as long as Suzi and I were there.